


Indiana Jones and the Sapphire Staff

by Eisoj5



Category: Indiana Jones Series
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 20:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/141516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eisoj5/pseuds/Eisoj5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another archaeological excavation, another magical treasure...all in a day's work.  Set after the fourth movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Indiana Jones and the Sapphire Staff

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fenchurcheast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fenchurcheast/gifts).



*****

"I think we lost them," Indy said, playing the flashlight over the dark tunnel behind them.

"I think we lost _ourselves_."

He turned to look at Marion, who was breathing heavily from their rapid scramble down into the newly uncovered hole in the ruins. She had her hands on her hips, and the flashlight’s beam caught the edge of her familiar glare.

"At least this time, you _volunteered_ ," he retorted.

"Volunteered to come out here with you—-I could hardly dare to let you out of my sight after what you did—-"

"That was years ago!"

"But I certainly did _not_ volunteer to climb down into another dark, cramped tunnel that leads to who knows where—-"

"Under the temple—-"

"Except that _you_ said women weren’t allowed to be on the dig site and that I should hide!"

"Well, they’re not." He swung away from her and shone the flashlight over the rough stone walls of the tunnel. "And I scrambled in here right after you, didn’t I?"

Marion snorted. "Oh, that just fills me with confidence. And what are your poor students going to do when they need your expert opinion on some crusty Roman coin they dug up? Now I know we’re not hiding from Nazis. Or is it the Russians again?"

"Technically I got dragged into the Russian camp because of you," Indy pointed out. He bent close to study the walls again. "There are inscriptions here."

"Of _course_ there are, it’s another ancient ruin," Marion said, but she crouched down next to him, and Indy smirked to himself. He reached out and traced the worn letters, translating aloud for her benefit. "'And you shall take in your hand this rod, with which you shall do the signs.'"

Marion gave him an amused look, then turned her attention back to the carved words. "More Hebrew?"

"Yeah, the Romans built on top of the older Judaic sites, which is exactly why you weren't exactly supposed to set foot inside. It's interesting that the old site reports don't mention these tunnels, though." Indy straightened up and pointed the flashlight further into the darkness. "Shall we?" He offered Marion his arm. She smiled, her previous irritation forgotten, and wrapped her hand around the crook of his elbow.

"Lead on, Doctor Jones."

A few twists, turns, and cobwebs later, they emerged into a room. "We're definitely under the temple now," Indy said. He directed the flashlight along the carvings again, murmuring translations under his breath. "This place hasn't been seen in three thousand years."

Marion coughed as the dust rose up from their footsteps, and went to look at another set of engraved drawings, one more familiar than the others. "That drawing looks just like the Ark of the Covenant, Indy!" She noticed a torch mounted nearby, and lit it. The wavering light revealed other torches around the chamber, and she went from one to another, lighting them all until she ran out of matches. Then she turned back to Indy. He had abandoned the inscriptions and was staring past her, at what she had illuminated.

There was an altar in the center of the room, and on it lay a staff, gleaming blue in the light.

They closed on it at the same time. "M'teh ha'Elokim," Indy said, a tone of wonder in his voice. "The Staff of Moses."

"It's made out of crystal," Marion said, and reached out with both hands to pick it up.

"Sapphire, actually--wait, Marion, don't--"

She lifted it reverently; nothing untoward happened. She turned to grin at him.

"It's an instrument of God," Indy said, with some exasperation. "Put it down, please."

Marion shrugged, opened her hands and let it fall back onto the altar--

"Not like that!" Indy jumped forward to catch it, but it was too late. The rod writhed as it fell, twisting in the air. When it rolled off the altar onto the floor, it became a snake.

He leaped backwards and said sharply, "Exodus 4.3, Marion. 'So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it.'"

"How was I supposed to know that?" Marion demanded, staring at the snake, which stared back. It flicked its tongue in their direction and lazily began to coil.

Indy reached for her hand and began to tug her away. "Let's go, let's go!"

"And just leave it there? Indy, it should be in a museum!"

"It _turned into a snake_ ," he said. "Moses fled from it, remember?"

"I remember Moses also used it to split the Red Sea, and it wasn't a snake then," she said, taking a step forward.

"Maybe that was a different rod." His hand hovered briefly over the gun at his hip. Better not, he decided, and looked back at what should have been a perfectly good artifact. He sighed. "Why does it always have to be snakes?"

"You know, people handle snakes all the time," Marion said, her tone thoughtful as she crouched down. She looked back at Indy. "Snake charmers, zookeepers-—really, your phobia could probably be cured if you just--" her hand shot out and grabbed the snake by its tail--"got used to holding them." She grinned and stood up as it reformed into the shimmering staff, which she held out to him.

Indy shuddered and waved it away.

"Look, there's more writing," she said, poking it towards him.

He nodded, and tried to edge back from her. "It's inscribed with the ten plagues of Egypt."

"How do you know?" Marion tilted the staff into the light and peered at it. "It's only a few words, not even a sentence, probably."

"I just know, okay? Can we go now?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "And just how were you planning to get out of here, Doctor Jones? We were hiding from--"

"Us."

Indy spun to face the newcomers, who were dressed in crisp, albeit slightly dusty, military uniforms.

"Although we really just wanted to talk to you about your permit," the speaker added, looking slightly aggrieved.

"Then why the guns?" Marion demanded. "We thought you were going to shoot us."

The officer shrugged. "Part of the uniform—-military police, Mrs. Jones. And now, unfortunately, since you've trespassed onto a holy—-and wholly _confidential_ —-site, we have to arrest you."

One of the other men nudged him and pointed at the staff in Marion's hand.

"And I'll have to add attempted theft of a national and sacred treasure to the charges," the officer added, with a stern frown. He reached down for his gun, and his hand came back up with a hissing snake instead.

Indy sympathized with the expression on the officer's face. Especially when all the other military police found the same result. "Let's get out of here," he shouted to Marion over the ensuing screams.

"How?" she yelled back, ducking a suddenly airborne snake. It landed on a corner of the altar and wriggled away into the shadows.

On a wild impulse, Indy grabbed the staff from her hands and struck it on the ground.

Where the staff met earth, water gushed forth in a wave that swept them all off their feet and back into the tunnel. All the experiences of being washed away had taught Indy that it was futile to try to keep his eyes and nose clear of water. The roaring in the enclosed space made it equally impossible to shout for Marion or the hapless military police who swirled along behind them. Indy felt Marion's hand grasping for his arm and, hesitating only for a split second, let the staff go, and held on to her tightly.

With the torches extinguished by the sudden flood, it was impossible to tell which of the tunnel's many branches they were being forced into—or if they were even truly being swept out of the temple at all. Indy had a fleeting thought about what kind of damage the water would do to the altar room and the ancient inscriptions-—and then he crashed into the wall of the tunnel and became preoccupied with holding on to Marion again. He caught a glimpse of her face before they went under again; her eyes were wide, but she gamely struggled to swim and retain some control over their fate.

The cascade of water washed them back out into the sunlight. Indy looked around and realized they had come out at the base of the site. He pulled Marion along with him up to the crest of the hill, where his students stared, bewildered, at their drenched professor and his wife, and the military police behind them, struggling to right themselves.

"Work's over," Indy barked at the students. "We'll start the maps tomorrow."

As they scattered in all directions, the military officer came up. "Doctor Jones."

Indy turned, mentally searching for something to defend Marion and himself with.

"I should still arrest you," the officer said, "but under the circumstances, it seems the charges won't--"

"Hold water?" Indy suggested.

The other man's expression remained unamused. "With the staff gone and the temple chamber flooded, you won't be able to trespass again, or...make your maps. Finish your dig. There is no treasure here." He nodded stiffly to Marion and took his leave of them.

"There's always that new underwater archaeology," Marion said, wringing out her shirt.

Indy sighed, and shook droplets of water from his hat before settling it back on his head. "With all the treasures I've found and lost over the years--"

Marion tucked an arm around his waist and beamed up at him expectantly.

"That's one I'd rather it _stayed_ lost."

*****

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my awesome betas, Isis and my husband! My husband also provided a heaping dose of inspiration and ideas when I was stuck trying to figure out a better story than what I'd originally planned, so major thanks go to him for that as well. I hope you enjoyed it, and happy holidays!


End file.
